Governor, local reps opposed to state exchange

Moul, Tallman and Alloway say feds should run program.

Gov. Tom Corbett's recent decision to allow the federal government to run Pennsylvania's health care exchange has been met with approval by several local legislators. State Reps. Dan Moul, R- Conewago Township, and Will Tallman, R- Reading Township, along with state Sen. Richard Alloway, R-Chambersburg, have all expressed their support.

The federal Affordable Care Act mandates that each state have its own health insurance exchange or marketplace, where low-income individuals and small businesses can shop for insurance. The states had until last month to decide who they wanted to run their exchanges - the state government, the federal government, or a joint state-federal partnership.

But Moul, Tallman and Alloway all said that making that decision was extremely difficult because of inadequate information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"I'm frustrated," Tallman said. "There has been a total lack of specifics."

Tallman pointed to uncertainty over the costs of setting up an exchange as the main reason for supporting the governor's decision.

"Nobody ever knew what was in the bill," Tallman said. "The concept was flawed from the beginning."

Cost was also a major reason why the representatives supported the governor's decision.

Advertisement

They said that they were fearful the exchange would end up costing the state more money than anticipated and were not ready to hold taxpayers accountable for that.

Still, the federal government has promised millions to states who set up their own exchanges. Pennsylvania was given $33.8 million last year to help set up that exchange, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, but now that the federal government has taken over the exchange, it will fund all expenses directly.

"Pennsylvania also could have tried to fund its exchange by charging a small fee to insurance agencies for access to the exchange," said Erin-Gill Ninehouser, education and outreach coordinator for the Pennsylvania Health Action Network, a group that advocated for a state-run exchange. "Other states like Massachusetts have successfully done this. Unfortunately a lot of the implementation has been tied to the politics of it."

Of the 19 states that decided to run their own exchanges, only five have Republican governors and of the states that opted for federally-run exchanges, only three have Democratic governors.

"It's the feds' idea," Moul said, in defending Corbett's decision to join in with the other Republican governors. "So we can let the feds do it."

Supporters of state-run exchanges say that they benefit consumers because they allow the states to tailor the exchanges around their individual needs. States that run their own exchanges will maintain the power to oversee insurance plans, address consumer concerns, and coordinate between the new marketplace and their Medicaid plans.

"That would be a viable argument if we had the specifics," said Tallman, "But we don't have those. How can you advocate when you don't know what it contains?"